Nathan Burchfiel

My Articles

(Editor's note: Fixes language in second paragraph.) (CNSNews.com) - Republicans claimed victory Wednesday in a flash-pan fight with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over 185-year-old House rules that allow the minority party to block legislation.Reports suggested that Pelosi would alter the "motion to commit," which allow the minority party to send legislation back to committee before the full House is allowed to vote on it.

(CNSNews.com) - A bill that would have made it easier for unions to organize was rejected by the Senate Tuesday in a procedural vote, but union leaders said the tally showed momentum building for its eventual passage.

(CNSNews.com) - House Republicans on Wednesday introduced an alternative to Democratic proposals for the expansion of a federal children's health insurance program in an effort to prevent what the GOP lawmakers called a "giant leap toward nationalized health insurance."Democrats have proposed more than doubling the funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which provides health coverage for children in families with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level - families with low incomes but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) on Monday threatened to cut off federal funding to Columbia University in New York City, which on Monday hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a speech and question-and-answer session with students. (Iran, according to the State Department, is a state-sponsor of terrorism.)?If the left-wing leaders of academia will not support our troops,? Hunter said in a statement, ?they, in the very least, should not support our adversaries.?

(CNSNews.com) - An unofficial website encouraging Sen. Barack Obama to run for president on Friday removed a prominent California pastor from its unapproved list of celebrity "endorsements" of the Illinois Democrat.As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the website DraftObama.org on Thursday unveiled a list of 17 celebrities who "work hard for a better America and have made statements in support of Senator Obama."

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Democrats in the House of Representatives failed to override President Bush's veto of an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a failure that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called "one of the worst things to happen to this country besides the war."Only 273 members of the House of Representatives votes were in favor of overriding Bush's veto, short of the two-thirds majority of 286 votes needed to overturn it.

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) on Thursday announced the reintroduction of legislation that would give tax credits to stay-at-home parents.Terry, who sponsored similar legislation in 2005, submitted the bill in the U.S. House. Brownback is expected to submit it in the U.S. Senate in the coming days. Both men say the bill will help bolster family values by making child care tax credits equitable.

(CNSNews.com) - Advocates on both sides of the debate over illegal immigration on Monday threatened a political backlash against elected officials who support the Senate's compromise on comprehensive immigration reform.The Secure Borders, Economic Opportunities and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, presented to members of Congress in draft form late last week, has sparked harsh criticism from groups on all sides of the debate.

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected the controversial comprehensive immigration reform bill when supporters couldn't gather the 60 votes required to invoke cloture and end debate on the bill.With 2008 presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) presiding over the proceedings, senators voted 53-46 against ending debate and voting on the bill. Obama and his Democratic presidential rival Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York both voted for cloture.

(CNSNews.com) - House Republicans said Thursday they hope to block provisions of a Democratic bill to expand health care coverage for poor children that could open up the coverage to illegal immigrants.The Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act would expand the existing State Children's Health Insurance Program - more than doubling it in size - and "improve beneficiary protections under the Medicare, Medicaid and the [SCHIP] program."

(CNSNews.com) - The House and Senate compromise on the reauthorization and expansion of a children's health insurance program would open the federally funded program to illegal immigrants, according to Republicans who oppose the measure."The Democrat SCHIP bill changes current law which prevents taxpayer dollars from going to illegal immigrants by including a gaping loophole to allow states to give taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants," Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn,) said in a letter to her colleagues Tuesday.

(CNSNews.com) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Saturday called on Republicans to stick to conservative principles, and he urged lawmakers across the country to institute conservative reforms."I hope that Republicans here in Washington and across the country don't do what is typical when there's a loss like occurred in November and that's to abandon conservative principles and redefine what it means to be a conservative, to be a little less like Democrats," said Bush. "That never works."

(CNSNews.com) - A middle school in Portland, Maine, has decided to provide birth control pills and patches to its students, ages 11 to 13, and under the policy, parents may never know if their children get the birth control. Cybercast News Service hit Capitol Hill on Thursday to ask members of Congress whether the federal government should fund public school districts that provide such contraception to kids without parental notification.

(CNSNews.com) - In the aftermath of Ann Coulter's controversial remarks about presidential candidate John Edwards, liberal bloggers say they have convinced some advertisers to stop supporting the conservative commentator's website.During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., March 2, Coulter said she was "going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot.'"

(CNSNews.com) - A panel discussion on global climate change Tuesday found Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) staff agreeing with representatives for the leading Democratic presidential contenders. A cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, they agreed, is the most promising solution to "global warming."

(1st Add: Includes comments from President Bush.) (CNSNews.com) - Conservative grassroots organizers claimed victory in convincing 18 senators to reverse course and vote against cloture on the controversial comprehensive immigration reform bill that died in the Senate Thursday.

(1st Add: Includes details on the legislative action on the bill.) (CNSNews.com) - The Democratic chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Friday morning that he hopes to bring the controversial Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act out of committee and to the full House of Representatives by the end of the day, despite Republican efforts to stall the process.

(CNSNews.com) - Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said during the Democratic presidential debate Wednesday that combat troops may have to continue fighting in Iraq throughout the next president's first term. When asked by debate moderator Tim Russert if they would have combat troops out of Iraq by the end of their first term, both Clinton and Obama avoided commitment, arguing that troops may remain in a fighting capacity through 2013.

(CNSNews.com) - Taking a swipe at politicians who already have declared plans to run for president in 2008, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Saturday that he would decide in September whether to seek the Republican nomination.Gingrich promised conservatives gathered at a conference in Washington that he would make a decision "around Labor Day."

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected a bill that would have established a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States as children and who make an effort to contribute to society.The DREAM Act, sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) would have rewarded illegal immigrants who were brought into the United States by their parents and who seek a college education or enlist in the military.